We are glad that an archbishop is forcing his corrupt predecessor to withdraw from a church service. And we are deeply grateful to concerned parishioners who are speaking out against honoring a prelate who ignored and concealed heinous sex crimes against kids.

Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez is reversing himself and not letting Cardinal Roger Mahony preside over confirmations at Saint Kateri Catholic Church on April 29.

This is a step forward. But the broader question is why do Catholic officials let their disgraced and complicit colleagues keep ministering in public and ignore their horrific and deceitful wrongdoing? Why do they let men like Mahony keep rubbing salt into the already deep and still fresh wounds of thousands of clergy sex abuse victims and hundreds of thousands of betrayed parishioners?

Gomez could and should have done more sooner to prevent Mahony from presenting himself in churches as an honorable person. Still, we are glad Gomez is acknowledging the pain of St. Kateri Catholics by removing Mahony.

Disciplining those who conceal child sex crimes deters others from concealing child sex crimes. But it takes courage to do this, and sadly, precious few in the Catholic hierarchy seem to be able to summon such courage.

We urge every single person who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes and cover ups in Catholic churches or institutions in the LA area protect kids by calling police, get help by calling therapists, expose wrongdoers by calling journalists, get justice by calling attorneys, and get comfort by calling support groups like ours. This is how kids will be safer, adults will recover, criminals will be prosecuted, cover ups will be deterred and the truth will surface.

(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. SNAP was founded in 1988 and has more than 20,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)

Auxiliary Bishop Alexander Salazar, who conducted the ceremony at Our Lady of Perpetual Help last week, will conduct the ceremony, Saint Kateri officials said.

“We want to focus on the confirmation candidates and celebrate the rite of confirmation,” explained Renee Fields, Director of Operations at Saint Kateri. “We want them to have a joyous experience as they complete their initiation into the Catholic Church.”

Barbara Blaine, founder of SNAP, passed away on Sunday, September 24th, 2017. Her dying was sudden and completely unexpected. Words cannot express our sorrow nor are there words to express our gratitude for her relentless advocacy. She truly was a hero. There is an old saying, “well behaved women seldom make history”. Barbara made history and the world is a better place.

Join SNAP Today

50 State AG Call for Grand Jury

Write a letter to the attorney general of your state. Demand, request, and beg them to impanel a grand jury.

Any investigation must be:

independent of and separate from the church

must have subpoena powers and ability to compel testimony under oath

Anything short of these criteria is a sham and whitewash.

In addition, write letters to the editor, make phone calls to politicians as they can apply pressure to keep them responsive to our demand. We need to make efforts to ensure that they follow up on what the state is doing to investigate these crimes.

The Attorneys General of forty states have inquired about the grand jury process in Pennsylvania. Let's get statewide investigations going in fifty states.

Note to Letter Writers

Use your own words and style of writing. Cut and paste from the templates as you wish. Include your experiences, whether as a survivor or as a member of the community. And relate your letter to the state you were abused in or state now living in.